From the editor

But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.—Luke 8:15

When Jesus told the parable about the sower and the soils, he exhorted anyone in the crowd with ears to listen (Luke 8:8). This begs the question, Are we listening?

This listening (“shema” in Hebrew) is not just the perception of sounds. It’s paying attention in a way that leads to obedient action.

Jesus then told his disciples that the good soil produces people who hear God’s word, hold it in a good and honest heart and bear fruit with patient endurance.

That phrase “patient endurance” jumped out at me as I read this passage. One reason is that I’m not a patient person. Jeanne, my wife, is the gardener in our family. I may help plant, but I don’t like weeding or watering. I like harvesting. But as any gardener knows, there is no harvest without the patient work of planting the seed and tending the garden until the seed bears fruit.

Gardeners also know the importance of good soil. When we moved into our house back in 1984, the place where we later had our garden consisted of a tight, clayey soil, not good for growing things. We tilled it up and mixed in compost, leaves and even some manure (which our neighbors didn’t appreciate). After several years of doing this, the soil loosened up, and our harvest increased.

Good soil is receptive to seed. It’s loose and can breathe. It’s filled with nutrients from various sources, such as compost and manure.

Not to draw too fine an analogy, if we want a good heart and patient endurance, we will need to be open to receiving God’s word to us. We will need to breathe. We will need to be fed and nurtured from various sources, such as learning from Scripture, from our brothers and sisters in Christ, from our walk in God’s Spirit.

We are in the season of Lent, the period in the church calendar from Ash Wednesday to Easter when we focus on penitence and fasting. The word comes from a Middle English word for springtime, the time when we plant gardens.

Lent can serve as a time to tend our own spiritual soil, to learn to hear God’s word to us.
This parable in Luke is one of the few Jesus explains to his disciples. He says, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God” (v. 10). “Secrets,” or “mysteries” in Greek, refers to things that would be unknown if God did not reveal them.

Jesus did not usually explain his parables but invited listeners to engage them, much the way we read murder mysteries to find out who killed the victim. What engages us and keeps us reading is that the writer makes it difficult. We have to work to find out who the murderer is.

The second part of v. 10, where Jesus quotes from Isaiah (“looking they may not perceive …”) bothers us. It sounds harsh, but it’s also the way things are. To get Jesus’ proclamation about the kingdom of God, people have to be open to its message. There’s listening, and there’s really listening. There’s struggling to get the message, and there’s “meh” (a shrug).

It’s not a matter of intelligence. Jesus points out elsewhere that children get it, the poor often get it, but the religious leaders often don’t. Members of his family and those in his hometown don’t get it. The rich don’t get it; they’ve got too much to lose.

During Lent, let us nurture our soil and listen for God’s word to us. And be patient.